Four of Vashon’s best-known actors will ring in the holiday season this Saturday with readings of classic holiday stories at Open Space for Arts and Community.

The evening, billed as “A Family Holiday Reading with Paul Shapiro & Friends,” will also include tasty desserts and chances for audience members to win prizes.

At the center of the event will be readings of two classic stories.

The first, “A Child’s Christmas in Wales,” by Dylan Thomas, will be read by Shapiro.

Shapiro is the founder of Vashon’s Shakespeare on the Green, and he played the title role in last summer’s production of “Cyrano de Bergerac.”

His long resumé as a performer also includes working as a professional circus clown and appearing in productions in theaters all over the United States.

The second story at the heart of the evening is “A Christmas Memory,” a short story by Truman Capote that was originally published in 1956. The story was later made into an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning television play staring Geraldine Page and narrated by Capote.

Vashon actors Phil Dunn, Lisa Breen and Stephen Floyd will bring Capote’s tender, autobiographical tale of a boy, his elderly cousin and their Christmastime adventures to life.

Dunn, Breen and Floyd have been seen in numerous theater productions on the Island, and Floyd is also known for his work as a theater arts teacher at Vashon High School.

Tickets to “A Family Holiday Reading with Paul Shapiro and Friends” cost $8 for adults and $4 for children ages 3 to 12. Children 2 years and younger are free.

Tickets can be purchased in advance at Vashon Book Shop, Books by the Way or at www.brownpapertickets.com. They will also be sold at the door.

Contact Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber Arts Editor Elizabeth Shepherd at arts@vashonbeachcomber.com or 206-463-9195.

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